McCarthy Delighted With Hard-Fought Win Saturday, 22nd Aug 2015 18:23 Town boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with what he felt was a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Preston, admitting that the home team were the better side before the break. Brett Pitman and Ryan Fraser netted the goals for the Blues with Daniel Johnson scoring for the Lilywhites. “I’m delighted with that because it was a hard-fought game,” McCarthy said. “I think Preston were the better side in the first half, we were lucky to go in front, to be honest. “They were really on the front foot and were being very aggressive with us. They were unlucky not to be in front, we scored against the run of play and theirs is a real clinical finish but I’m more bleating like hell that we got done when we were on the attack with a throw-in. That’s something that we have to avoid, but they finished it clinically. “I thought the first half ended honours even, I think they had the better of it overall and we had the better of the second half. “We certainly had more of the ball and that goal that Ryan scored it was the first time in a few minutes that we’d kept it up the pitch and it was worthy of winning any game.” McCarthy admitted he was surprised by Preston’s 4-4-1-1 system: “They changed the way they play. I had to change my shape as I fully expected them to play 3-5-2 or the shape that they’ve been playing, it’s almost been like five and one in front and two attackers and two midfield players and we planned for that. “They changed it and it caught us on the hop a bit because we didn’t expect it and the players I had to have Brett Pitman in midfield and he’s striker but he did his job and he scored from there, actually. “There were one or two who did really selfless jobs for us, Ryan playing up and down looking after the full-back. Freddie went and played wide and took care of that. "Not what they want to do but if we end up with enough points to get in the Premier League nobody’ll complain that he’s played wide left for 20 games.” Former Town manager Roy Keane was at the game but missed out on a chance to catch one of the Blues’ two Ireland strikers, Daryl Murphy, in action, the Blues number nine sidelined with a calf problem. McCarthy says last season's 27-goal top scorer might not be back until after the international break which follows next week’s top of the table clash against Brighton. “It might be after the international break, we’ll see,” McCarthy continued. “He’s had a scan, there’s nothing too serious there but I’m not worried about the Tuesday game, certainly. If he’s ready for Brighton, that’d be great, if not he’ll get a break.” The Town boss is pleased that David McGoldrick has extended his contract until 2018: “Of course, that’s been signed for a while now, but that was announced and everybody’s pleased with it.” McCarthy says Ainsley Maitland-Niles was left out due to the switch in formation, but also so as to rest the Arsenal youngster. “We were playing 4-3-3. We’ve got Didz, we’ve got Brett, we’ve got Ryan, he is only 17 and the temptation is just to use him and you almost use him and abuse him, so it was nice for him to get a rest. And he contributed when he came on as fresh legs.” The Blues manager was delighted with the way the winger looked to see the game out by taking the ball into the corner in the closing moments. “He’s not 17, let me tell you. I think we’ll have to check his birth certificate," he joked. "He plays the game like a far older head than 17.” McCarthy said he wasn’t sure what happened in the incident in which Preston striker Joe Garner was yellow-carded for apparently handling the ball over the line: “He booked him, didn’t he? I didn’t know. He’s terrific Garner, he’s a real handful. If he did put his hand on it, then he did rightly get booked. I couldn’t see. “It was one of them, if it was me I’d be screaming blue murder that I think it should be a goal, it’s not a handball. I can be fairly pragmatic, if the ref’s got it right, he’s got it right. “I thought he reffed it well because it wasn’t an easy game for him today, it was a tough game.” Academy youngsters James Blanchfield, George Fowler, Shane McLoughlin and Sam Ford travelled with the squad to gain experience of being around the first team. “I’d four spare seats on the plane so I thought, should I travel empty or should I bring four lads to see what it’s all about and experience a Championship game?” McCarthy said. “It was a good game, it was a tough game and maybe it opened their eyes somewhat looking at the intensity of it - that’s how they’ve got to play if they get in.” He says the experience will have given them something to aspire to: “Absolutely, they’re not travelling on a charabanc up to Crewe or wherever they go for however many hours it is [with the U18s]. “Mind you, we do that a lot plenty, we’ve only flown because we’re at Doncaster on Tuesday, it’s not our modus operandi every week. The lads have enjoyed it.” Regarding potential additions ahead of the closure of the transfer window at the end of the month, he added: “Possibly. There’s nobody hanging on or anything like that, so we’ll see.” Preston boss Simon Grayson felt Fraser's strike was the difference on the day: “We knew before the game that we were coming up against a really strong Ipswich team; top of the division and in the play-offs last year. “They have got lots of quality about them and we had to make sure that if they were going to get a positive result they had to earn the right to get one — and that has been the case today. “They will have come off the pitch knowing that they have certainly been in a game, and one bit of quality has won them it in the end. “After 25 minutes we could have been out of sight in the game and we then got a goal against us totally against the run of play, but that is what the Championship is about.”
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